Deputies use Taser on man faking a gun

LAKESIDE  Sheriff’s deputies facing a suicidal man who pretended to have a handgun used a Taser to subdue him behind their Lakeside strip mall office Thursday night.

It turned out that the man was holding a hairbrush and pair of sunglasses in a way to make it look, in the dark, like he had a pistol, sheriff’s Lt. Jim Walker said.

“He said he wanted them to kill him,” Walker said. “They used a lot of restraint.”

About 11:30 p.m., a deputy looked out the back door of the office on Winter Gardens Boulevard to see why someone was blaring a horn, Walker said.

A large utility trunk roared forward toward the door, so the deputy ducked back inside, Walker said. The truck did not hit the building. Three or four deputies went out the front and circled around to the small back parking area.

The truck driver rolled down his window and aimed a dark object at them, Walker said. Then the driver’s hand jostled and the object fell, showing that it was not a gun. He didn’t follow their orders and deputies used a Taser on him.

The 50-year-old man was evaluated at a mental hospital, then jailed on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon - his truck - possession of methamphetamine and drunken driving. An open bottle of vodka was in the truck, Walker said.